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Ultra Series/Cultural References
As one of Japan's popular Tokusatsu which falls into daikaiju and kyodai genre, the Ultra Series had been parodied and referenced in popular culture multiple times, commonly for the first Ultraman's Specium Ray (though however made in a mirrored version). Anime/Manga Wonder Island is a two part one-shot manga written by Akira Toriyama. It is notable for being Toriyama's first published manga. The setting of this manga, Wonder Island, appears later on in Dr. Slump. In the second chapter, while waiting for Dirty Harry's arrival, Gyaosu and his men play war between Ultraman and Godzilla. This second chapter of Wonder Island is a second chance given to Akira Toriyama by his editor Kazuhiko Torishima to demonstrates his talents. Toriyama introduces many references to popular culture in this chapter (Godzilla, Ultraman, Astro Boy, King Kong, Star Wars). Despite this, the manga will not gain the sympathy of the Shōnen Jump readers. Kinnikuman In Kinnikuman, the Ultra Brothers are on vacation. Dr. Slump Dr. Slump manga, later adapted into anime series Dr. Slump & Arale-chan written by Akira Toriyama, features several characters and references in the Ultra Series. In the first manga, Akira's chibi caricature of the original Ultraman was shown. While in the first episode of the anime series, Ultraman was seen pulling up the sun with his fishing rod. Arale Norikami, the main character is a big fan of the original Ultraman series and often pretends to be him. At one instance, in the 18th chapter of the manga and the second part of the sixth episode named Arale is Kidnapped!, while Arale was (unknowingly) kidnapped with Gatchan by a bank robber, she thought that the robber wanted to play so she pretend to be the original Ultraman. In the 24 chapter, Barber Shop Panic: Part 2, a female cop named Polly Buckets sang Ultraman no Uta, Ultraman's opening song. While an old woman wants Gyaosu's microphone, Ultraseven made a cameo appearance in the back. Several characters in the Penguin Village seems to have tributes to the Ultra Series' characters. Among them are Nekotoraman and Nekotora-7. Alien Baltan rarely shown hanging on a tree. In 82nd chapter, Space Patrol Squad, a group of comical alien invaders rode a spaceship that resembles Ultraman's head. Dragonball The manga later anime series of Dragonball written by Akira Toriyama featured the female character Chi-Chi, whom as a child worn a helmet that allowed her to initiate attacks that similar to Ultraseven's Emerium Ray and Eye Slugger. In one episode, she comically uses the move 'Stay Away From Me!' to launch the Eye Slugger into Roshi's forehead, and although he was none the worse for wear, he had to wear a large plaster over the wound for the rest of the episode. Chi-Chi wear this helmet in every games that features her as a child. Chi-Chi Helmet_Beam.jpg|That Won't Work Chi-Chi Helmet_Blade.jpg|Stay Away From Me! Also noted that the company owned by Bulma's father, Capsule Corporation developed transformable capsules which said item may had inspired from the concept of Ultraseven's Capsule Monsters. These capsules firstly appeared in one of Akira Toriyama's one-shot manga, The Adventures of Tongpoo. Ranma ½ In episode 62, Ranma and Ryoga are racing against each other in a desert wasteland in order to win a trip to China. One of the obstacles they encounter is a sand trap with a robot bearing the appearance of an Alien Baltan. Urusei Yatsura Ultraman and his kaiju enemies appear multiple times in this series and its movies. Cameos in Lum 16.jpg Cameos in Lum 21.jpg Cameos in Lum 55.jpg Cameos in Lum.jpg Eleking in Lum.jpg Cameos in lum 3.jpg Cameos in Lum 15.jpg Cameos in Lum 19.jpg Cameos in Lum 20.jpg Cameos in Lum 25.jpg Cameos in Lum 27.jpg Cameos in lum 29.jpg Cameos in Lum 30.jpg Cameos in Lum 42.jpg Cameos in Lum 50.jpg Cameos in Lum 51.jpg Cameos in Lum 52.jpg Cameos in Lum 53.jpg Cameos in Lum 54.jpg Digimon Adventure In episode 51, Piemon, the Clown from Hell, the title screen features Piemon rising in a similar manner to Ultraman's transformation sequence. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya During the Endless Eight arc, boot leg masks of the popular tokusatsu and anime characters appear at a Bon Festival, and Yuki Nagato always buys the one resembling Ultraman. Sgt. Forg/Keroro Gunso Sgt. Frog, called Keroro Gunso in Japan or Sgt. Keroro in certain region in the world was made by Mine Yoshizaki. Both anime and manga had a small relation with several companies such as Bandai and Toei, explaining the existence of multiple parodies from famous Japanese franchises and shows (Ultraman, Gundam, Kamen Rider, Metal Hero, Super Sentai, etc). - Wettle King= Wettle King or named Wettle Man (pun of Ultraman) in the manga is a character in the series Keroro Gunso. He debuted in episode 113. Wettle King was a genetically modified slug by Kururu under orders from Keroro, who saw that Natsumi Hinata is afraid of slugs. The modification turned Wettle King into a humanoid being who resembles a green Ultraman, Iron King and Mirrorman with tiny eyes and feelers on his head. Though he has 1000 times the strength of a normal slug, he was still quite weak, but his attacks worked against Natsumi because she was so much revolted by his viscosity. Fuyuki, however, was able to defeat him with a finger. Unless he's in an ambiance with very high humidity, he can only fight for 4 minutes and 44 seconds before he has to recharge himself with water. Despite Keroro's intentions, Wettle King's spirit of righteousness forbade him from harming Natsumi, and he flew off into deep space in the end to find some place where he could be useful, until his powers were needed once again. Wettle King returned in episode 215, gaining new abilities like creating human disguises, much like certain Ultras in their series. He posed himself as Tohru Uetsu, a motorcycle-riding, smooth-talking (and incredibly clumsy) photojournalist, along with playing a trumpet during his entrance scene, he is reminiscent of Hayato Icimonji, the second Kamen Rider and his costume was a parody to Ichiro of Kikaider 01. When Keroro created seven Fake Wettle Kings (each wears different scarves and boots), he sent them to attack Natsumi until Wettle King saved her. Wettle King transforms in a similar manner to Choichiro Hikari transforms into Ultraman Joneus. He later managed to pursue them to join his side and together, they fired an Ultra Beam-esque attack to Keroro and Keruru. Despite all of them returned to space, but a Nyororo consumes them and mutated into Nyorowettle King. At the Keroro Platoon's space base, Nyorowettle King turned into clones and attack the base. Wettle King appeared and attacked . After the base is destroyed, he managed to save the Fake Wettle Kings' original slug template. - Underground People= In part 2 of episode 197, everyone was trying to figure out what was wrong with Keroro due to his obsession for drilling holes. Kululu explain this by presenting pictures of hole-based things like anniversary rock records, female news reporter (in Japan, female news reported read as since the word is close to ), entering Kotatsu (in Japan, it pronounces more like digging in since kotatsu is a small table), a mole and others. Among them were a picture of the female member of Underground People, marking her small cameo appearances in the episode. - Copy Robots= The Keroro Platoon possessed robotic copies of themselves called Keroro Platoon Double which Kululu made to replace them whenever they took a day off, as well as taking care of the household chores at the Hinata residence. The Keroro Platoon's robotic imitators could not only imitate Keronians (their race) but also other humans. While imitating a Keronian, the duplicates disguise had a little defect, much like Alien Zarab as imitation Ultramen, they had slanted eyes and curly feet. Humans (and eventually certain aliens) could not see the difference between the robotic Keronians and the real ones, something which in the original Ultraman series portrayed. Despite being used as replacements, but in one episode, Keroro and his platoon tried to use mass-produced version of these as invasion armies. However the plan backfired and ended up with the impostors replacing the Keroro Platoons (including Mois) and the Hinata siblings. It wasn't until the real Tamama (whom was in vacation before the impostors' takeover) destroyed them and free their captives. Kululu rebuild the Keroro Platoon Double but never intended to use them for malicious schemes again. - Ultra Badge= In Dororo Character Special, the Ultra Badge made a cameo appearance among the objects that messed in the Keroro Platoon's desk during their meeting. - Capras= In part 2 of episode 151 Sgt. Frog, when Fuyuki accidentally logged into the Real Adventure Game, a game where the player would face a monster in reality, he, Natsumi, Keroro and Giroro were force to fend themselves against a monster which was homage to Jirass. According to Fuyuki, the monster resembles a giant Chupacabra with a frill on its neck, much like how the Jirass suit were simply the first Godzilla suit added with a frill on the neck. Also, when Capras fought an enlarged Giroro, he ripped off Capras' frill similar to Ultraman's fight against Jirass. - ZZZ & Gan Q= A gigantic (yet destructive) parody of Zetton appeared in episode 153 and 154. Here, he is called or simply called ZZZ (since the series' main characters complained its name as a tongue twister) whose main objective is to destroy planets and consume action figures. To keep in touch with the original Zetton from Ultra Series, he was stated to have a weakness in his right foot, which was based on George's claim in Ultraman Mebius that Zetton's weakness are his feet. The episode 154 even featured Gan Q making his cameo appearances among the aliens but his head was shrunken to fit normal heads with slight alterations like removed antennae was made. }} Haitai Nanafa Moe anthropomorphisms of King Joe, Eleking, Alien Temperor, Zetton and Alien Mefilas made their appearance in the 20th episode of the series. Nanafa kaijuu.jpg|Alien Temperor, Eleking, and King Joe Haitai_z-ton.jpg|Zetton Haitai_kaijuu.jpg|Alien Mefilas and Alien Temperor Jaco the Galactic Patrolman , is an eleven-chapter comedy manga by Akira Toriyama. It ties in with his Dragon Ball manga. It is part of Toriyama's "Galactic Patrol series", along with Sachi-chan Gū!! and Jiya. The main character, Jaco was designed after Ultraman and Frieza's fourth form from Dragonball. Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W When Nyaruko said that leave the job to the Space Guards from the Land of Light, this mirrors the Space Garrison Team from the Land of Light in the Showa Universe of the Ultra Series. Yet, she even perform the well-known Specium Ray pose. - Episode 12= The scene where Mahiro trapped in a crystal, Nyaruko's dialogue "This is the light!", and the light that revives Mahiro is a reference to the scene in Episode 52 of Ultraman Tiga, where Daigo was revived and managed to become Tiga again to face Gatanozoa. }} Yuki Yuna is a Hero When the girls first transform, many of their poses reference Ultra rises. This could also be a reference to the fact that this magical girl series has the heroes fighting daikaiju as opposed to smaller opponents. Cultural Influences Emoticons While the Ultra Series franchise had gotten more popular, two of the franchise's most popular character, the original Ultraman and Alien Baltan had their own emoticons. *Ultraman: (o|o) *Alien Baltan: (V)o￥o(V) Cartoons The Simpsons A couch gag which is first seen in the fifteenth season has the members of the family appear as well-known anime, manga and tokusatsu characters in Tokyo. Marge is Jun from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Lisa is Usagi Tsugino from Sailor Moon, Bart is AstroBoy, and Homer appears as Ultraman himself. He is initially seen in the background as a giant, then flies and shrinks in front of the TV, performs a few attacks and finally uses his Specium Ray to turn on the TV. X-men: The Animated Series In episode 14 of the fifth season of X-men: The Animated Series, an alien that bears a strong similarity to Alien Flip appears in a sequence montage of aliens that live in the universe. Another Alien Flip also appeared in the episode entitled 'Mojo Vision' as one of the many alien spectators. Ben 10 franchise The alien Way Big, the Omnitrix's DNA sample of a To'kustar, is designed after Ultraman in body form, color scheme, and height. Ultimate Way Big also seems to be based of Ultraman Taro in body form, but his color scheme is more closely related to Ultraman Cosmos. Coincidently, the transformation is used under a time limit much like the color-timer. Way Big Way_big_Ben 10.png|Way Big first debuted in Ben 10. Way_big_Ben 10 Alien Force & Ultimate Alien.png|Way Big as in Ben 10 Alien Force & Ben 10 Ultimate Alien. Way_Big_Ben 10 Omniverse.PNG|Way Big as in Ben 10 Omniverse Way_Big_Ben 10 Omniverse Mad Ben ver.png|Mad Ben (evil counterpart of Ben Tennyson) as Mad Way Big. Omni-Big-cosmic.png|Way Big performing Cosmic Ray. Ultimate Way Big Ultimate_way_big.png|Ultimate Way Big in Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Ultimate_Way_Big_004.png|Ultimate Way Big performing Cosmic Ray. Ultimate_Way_Big_005.png|Ultimate Way Big performing Energy Disk attack. Ultimate_way_big_flight.png|Ultimate Way Big maneuvering flight in a manner of Ultraman's rise transformation. Ultimate_way_big_spin.png|Ultimate Way Big spinning by maneuvering acceleration. Pokémon In a episode of the Advanced series called 'A Corphish Out of Water', Team Rocket mimics Alien Baltan while they were performing their motto. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 series) In the episode "The Legend of Kuro Kabuto", a professional burglar named Anton Zeck (Bebop) had a power where he could use the crest on his helmet and throw it at enemies similar to Ultraseven's Eye Slugger. Olive the Other Reindeer In the holiday special, near the end as Olive, Santa Claus, and the other reindeer as they were passing by Japan a giant monster referencing Godzilla, and a giant super hero referencing Ultraman were seen singing the end song with each other Regular Show In the 100th episode special episode "A Bunch of Full Grown Geese", during the final battle between the giant Baby Ducks and the giant Full Grown Geese, the ducks used a attack similar to Ultraman's Specium Ray the only difference being that he fired it from his left side instead of his right like Ultraman. Robot Chicken *In season 5 episode 100 one of the segments called "Power Forest Rangers" though a parody of the series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger) while the Forest Rangers was fighting Yogi Bear, the yellow ranger fires a beam at Yogi similar to Ultraman's Specium Ray except from his left side and with his cross hand backwards similar to Ultraman Hikari. *In season 6 episode 120 in the segment called "Appeasing the Gods" a parody of the movie "Cabin in the Woods" while the teenagers are looking at all the collectibles in the basement a figure of Red King can be seen on the table and a figure of Alien Baltan can be seen on one of the selves on the wall. Comic Books Marvel Miclas, un-related to the one that appeared as a capsule monster, appeared on the Marvel Universe, Earth-616's Monster Isle with creatures like Skreeal, Giganto, Tricephalous and Ugu. Miclas was one of the many monsters to terrorize the Skrull scouting party and their leader, Bag Le. He was subdued with Slave Darts and teleported around the globe in order to increase the mental stress level across the planet and cause mass confusion. Trivia *Miclas in the Marvel universe is the only one depicted as an evil entity. *The Marvel Miclas has not shown to have any powers besides brute strength. *Miclas managed to show up in Marvel comics due to Popy liscensing their Ultraseven sofubi toys to Mattel for distribution in the United States, who integrated them into a spinoff of their Shogun Warriors toy line called Godzilla's Gang. At the time, Mattel had Marvel market these toys through their comics. Videogames Pokémon Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon, has said that it was Ultra Seven's capsule monsters that inspired him to have the collected Pokémon inside containers that could be carried in ones pocket. Also noted that the original concept of Pokeballs were small capsules that indeed based on said capsule monsters. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 An adult Chi-Chi was made as one of the game's playable character. However, since she never used chi-based skills, she was given one, Power Slugger and Super Power Slugger, where she fired an energy blade projectile from her head, mirroring Ultraseven's Eye Slugger and her childhood's helmet. Movies Big Hero 6 The 2014 Disney movie Big Hero 6, during one of the scenes in Hiro Hamada's bedroom, you can see a mask of Ultraman. Yet this was interesting since the boy lives in the City of Fransokyo (a combination of Tokyo, Japan and San Francisco, America). BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui Right near the film's falling action, while Turaga Lhikan was slowly dying from the impact after protecting Toa Vakama from Makuta Teridax, the Heartlight on his chest slowly blinks until it faded away when Lhikan died. This was likely a reference to the Ultra Troupe when an Ultra died, his Color Timer slowly blinked and completely faded. The whole Heartlight concept may be a reference to the Ultraman franchise. Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage: Mirai no Tomodachi A group of girls at Ayumi's school discuss themselves about the Pretty Cures' successful battle against Fusion. One of the fangirls performs a "Pretty Cure beam" by placing her hands in a + position, a reference to Specium Ray, the signature attack of Ultraman. Other Tokusatsu Gekisou Sentai Carranger Braking has a weapon which he detaches from his head similar to Ultraseven's eye slugger. Its name is the King Slugger. A blurred image and silhouette of Alien Baltan appeared in the of the Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Otsu: Heroo! Answers. Alien Baltan appeared as an ex-boyfriend of Electro-Wave Human Tackle HeroOtsu_Alien_Baltan_Shadow.jpg|Alien Baltan's Shadow in Super Hero Taisen Otsu HeroOtsu_Alien_Baltan_BlackStrip.jpg|Alien Baltan with Tackle ToQger In episode 43 of Ressha Sentai ToQger, Right briefly made the specium ray gesture after his attack was blocked. Kamen Rider OOO Net Videos In one of the Kamen Rider OOO net videos, Date compares Os' Shauta form to Ultraman. The copyrighted name is censored. Godzilla vs. Hedorah Godzilla performs the Specium Ray in Godzilla vs. Hedorah. Real-life Influences These are list of peoples and real life-related things whose inspiration towards Ultraman had influence their life. Akira Toriyama born on April 5, 1955, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture) is a widely acclaimed Japanese manga and game artist who lives in Kiyosu. Akira had mentioned himself as a big fan of Ultra Series and Godzilla films, putting several elements from the Ultra Series into his works such as Dragonball, Dr. Slump, Jaco the Galactic Patrolman and Wonder Island. Geek Crash Course Geek Crash Course is a weekly webseries created and hosted by Michael Nixon and Diana Dekajlo. The show airs every Wednesday on Blip, Youtube, and their Facebook page. The show's purpose is to educate newcomers to their friend's geeky things they don't quite understand in a simple condensed format that gives the viewer the basics of what its about. Occasionally, Michael and Diana give the viewers homework assignments in the form of recommendations and sometimes what to avoid in terms of long-running franchises as well as trivia on the subject. Michael Nixon is a big tokusatsu fan, so on February 2012, the month of his birthday, he declared that he would do a month of Toksusatsu videos on GCC including a video on Ultraman on July 31, 2012. The show also features special GCC episodes designed to prep moviegoers for films based on pop-culture properties or centered in the Sci-Fi or Fantasy genre. On December 18, 2013, the two announced in a vlog that Michael had moved to Los Angeles and thus the show's format would change in 2014. The first and last week of each month would be a Geek Crash Course "Classic" episode, where the two would tackle a subject together like before while the other weeks would feature a Geek Crash Course East or Geek Crash Course West episode where Diana or Michael would tackle a subject individually. References *Geek Crash Course | Wikizilla, the Godzilla Resource and Wiki External Links *Official Blip Page *Official Site *Official Youtube page *Official Facebook Page *Official Twitter Page Steven Moffat Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat is shown in DWM issue 480 with a Hugo Award - and a silver Ultraman. BrickCon 2010 The LEGO BrickCon of 2010's main theme was "Big in Japan" and featured a model of Ultraman vs. Baltan, along with other toku characters, such as Gundams, MechaGodzilla and Guyver IV. The Ultraman diorama was made by Lino Martins, and appeared in Beckett Build magazine. 5761225284_c4a68d49d3_o.jpg|Baltan 5761225384_008dd3c3aa_o.jpg|Ultraman Category:Browse